I nod. “We’re just having a difference of opinion.”
He thinks I’m a piece of shit, and I’m having a hard time proving myself differently. It ends here. I’ll be the father Dante’s come to trust. I walk over to where he sits and run my knuckles through his hair.
“Grown-up stuff gets confusing sometimes. Hang in there with me, okay?”
“K.”
“Trust me?”
“Yep.”
“Good. Play your game. I’m going to talk to your mom. And we’ll talk about why you got in trouble in a little while, okay?”
“K.” I start to make my way toward her room. “Troy?”
“Yeah, bud?”
“Are you going to spank me?”
“Spank you?” I bite my lips to hide my grin. “No.”
“K, ‘cause that would hurt real bad.”
“Really bad. And I would never hurt you. You know that, right?
“Uh huh.”
Unable to help it, I walk over and pull him into me. He hugs me back tightly, without reservation, something we both clearly need. Placing a kiss at the top of his head, I pull away.
“No matter what, I’m proud of you. You know that?”
“Yeah.”
I tip his chin up. “Saw your vi
deo last night. Did you edit that new intro yourself?”
“Yeah! You watched it?”
“I watch them all.”
“Really?”
His happiness means everything to me. As does the woman just a room away.
“Let me go talk to her, and maybe you and I can get lunch after. Just the two of us.”
“K. Is she sad ‘cause you don’t kiss her in the laundry room anymore?”
Gaping, I stare down at him at a loss for words. My mother is right. We’re idiots. While we were falling in love, our son was watching. It doesn’t matter what we did behind closed doors, he was witness to it all, which is why he felt our split as much as we did.
“Dante, that’s private adult stuff.”
“K. Can we have tacos?”
That was way too easy. But relieved, I answer with a bribe. “Anything you want.”
“I’m in trouble. Mommy might not let me go.”